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4D pharma plc: Appointment of Independent Non-Executive Directors

LEEDS, England, January 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- 4D Pharma plc (AIM: DDDD), a pharmaceutical company leading the development of Live Biotherapeutics, today announces the appointment of Ed Baracchini, PhD, and Professor Axel Glasmacher, MD, as independent Non-Executive Directors with immediate effect.

Ed Baracchini, PhD, was previously the Chief Business Officer at Xencor Inc. where he led strategic alliances and licensing. During his time at Xencor he negotiated license agreements with Novartis ($2.6B: immune-oncology bispecific antibodies), Novo Nordisk ($600M: drug discovery collaboration), Amgen ($500M: option and development agreement autoimmune disease antibody) among numerous others. Prior to that he served as SVP Business Development for Metabasis Therapeutics.

Professor Dr. med. Axel Glasmacher was until recently Senior Vice President and Head of the Global Clinical Research and Development Hematology Oncology at Celgene, where he has worked in various global roles for more than ten years. His work at Celgene led to the approvals of Revlimid®, Idhifa®, and Vidaza® (haematological cancers). He also worked on the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab. Prior to Celgene, Professor Glasmacher worked within the fields of hematology-oncology at the University Hospital in Bonn.

Duncan Peyton, 4D's Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We welcome Axel and Ed to our Board with great pleasure. Their collective experience will strengthen our commercial and therapeutic focus, as 4D accelerates development of its extensive pipeline in cancer and other immunological diseases."

The following information is disclosed in accordance with Rule 17 and Schedule 2 paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

Edgardo (Ed) Baracchini Jr., 59, has no interest in shares in 4D pharma plc and has the following current and previous company directorships and partnerships:

Current Company Directorships and Partnerships:

None

Company Directorships and Partnerships held in last 5 years:

INmune Bio, Inc.

Axel Gaston Glasmacher, 58, has no interest in shares in 4D pharma plc and has the following current and previous company directorships and partnerships:

Save for the disclosures above, there are no further disclosures to be made in accordance with Rule 17 and Schedule 2 paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

About 4D

Founded in February 2014, 4D is a world leader in the development of live biotherapeutics, a novel and emerging class of drugs, defined by the FDA as biological products that contain a live organism, such as bacteria, that is applicable to the prevention, treatment or cure of a disease. 4D has developed a proprietary platform that rationally identifies novel bacteria that have a precise and evolved therapeutic effect. All of 4D's live biotherapeutic products are orally delivered single strains of bacteria that are naturally found in the healthy human gut. 4D has a phase II study in Irritable Bowel Syndrome running and has a pipeline of 13 pre-clinical programmes, covering disease areas such as cancer, poorly controlled asthma, autoimmune and CNS disease. The Company plans to commence three additional clinical studies in 2019.